10 Raving Reasons Why You Should Quit The Hustle Mentality
The term “hustle” (derived from the Dutch word “husselen”, assimilation of “hutselen”) means “to shake to and fro”. In our current climate, even though part of the hustle is about being smart, unfortunately, in many industries hustling has become the equivalent of slaving away until you “make” it. For some, this oftentimes involves thinking they need to keep struggling and starving until the right opportunity finds them. Especially in the dance music industry community, it is a myth too many have come to believe, whether it’s the DJs themselves, the people behind the scenes or the people on the dancefloor. It’s become a statement, a vacant expression of a certain status and a self-proclaimed membership of some kind of special tribe of people.
I got news for you. It’s not making you special at all, quite the opposite. It’s detrimental to your health and well-being. I’ve got 10 reasons why you should stop subscribing to the hustle mentality. Get out while you still can!
#1 - It doesn’t make you look cool
Getting pats on the back from your peers in nightlife because you’re playing your 3rd gig in 2 nights, being tired because you’re working nights or doing a lot of overtime and feeling validated for it, is not cool. It’s kinda sad and makes me wish you’d make healthier choices for yourself, your life and your career. Live smarter, not harder.
#2 - It’s not making you more successful
Be honest: What has the hustle mentality done for you so far in terms of success? What have you achieved because of the hustle that you are super proud of?
Think of this: What is your definition of success? What does having success in music, in (night)life and your work mean to you?
#3 - It’s keeping you in a self-victimization headspace
You’re always going somewhere and never arriving because you can’t, you have to go, you have to work, you’ve got another gig in that club, you have someplace to be. Excuses, excuses.
It’s giving you a false sense of importance, while in fact, it’s not making you more important, it’s making you not be present for the important stuff, miss out on things and after a while, people around you just zone out. No need to look elsewhere or point fingers when this happens. This one’s on you, honey. You’re doing this to yourself. And victimizing yourself sets you up for failure in music and life.
#4 - It’s a huge limiting belief, a myth even
A myth adopted by many many sectors - and especially prevalent in the dance music industry, is the idea of slaving away, struggling, starving even until the right opportunity presents itself to you and you “make” it.
You do know you have the power to change the narrative, don’t you? You’re your person and if something doesn’t feel good, you have the power to choose and choose again. So if it’s a matter of choice between feeling stressy or feeling good, what will it be?
#5 - You won’t achieve your goals faster
Working harder is not going to help you achieve things faster. Rather, it’ll lead to overwhelm, stress, fatigue, and confusion. Do you think you can reach your goals feeling like that? Moreover, you think you’ll feel happy, energized and fulfilled, proud of what you’ve done?
I’m thinking you’ll be relieved it’s finally over and that you’ve survived it. You’ve made it through another day. Too bad. You’re taking all the fun out of it. You should be able to be fully present every step of the way, enjoy the process and celebrate your victories instead.
#6 - It doesn’t help you reach your deadlines quicker
I know, this sounds like the previous point. But there’s a distinction. A deadline is a date and time of completion you attach to your goals and to your objectives (the action steps you’ve defined to reach your goals). Rushing things to make it to the finish line in time is setting yourself up for failure. You will stumble along the way and miss important details. You’ll be counting mistakes, and putting out fires before you know it. That doesn’t sound like a great boost for your self-esteem, innit?
#7 - It won’t make you more money
Working more doesn’t equal earning more. Quite the opposite, it means you’re probably devaluing yourself and your skills. You risk your work being taken for granted and your efforts not appreciated. How about you look for ways to become more productive and sharpen your skills, and ask for a raise or a larger fee instead?
#8 - It won’t enable you to climb up that ladder
Hustling hard is not a key trait of ambitious people. It has the power to make ambitious people burn out faster. The more passion, the wilder the fire. Add a hustle mentality on top and you see where this is going. Climbing the so-called ladder is a matter of vision, strategic planning, and patience. It also requires a deep understanding of giving - what are you willing to give in return to be on the receiving end? If you’re not getting this point, clearly, that’s what you’re all about when it comes to going up in the world, getting. You might want to rethink that strategy honey.
#9 - It doesn’t earn you any respect
I’ve made this point already: you won’t earn a badge of honor or special membership by subscribing to the hustle mentality. Your peers won’t necessarily appreciate your hustle. It puts them in a position of feeling or fearing they can’t compete. It keeps that old mill of the comparison hangover turning. Do you want to be that person that feels like they need to elbow their way through situations just for a false sense of recognition? There’s more than enough to go around for everyone. Enough gigs, enough festivals, enough parties, enough work, enough skills, enough opportunities. Chill out.
#10 - It pollutes your perspective on just about anything
Hustling puts you in an energy of forcing, pushing, fighting, struggling and always having to be “on”. This is not the right vibe to create or manifest anything - whether you want to make music, play a DJ set, make it to that night out clubbing with your friends, or putting together a presentation at work. How can you be happy about something you need to force out of you?
Giving your mind that well-deserved break allows S P A C E for your thoughts to be able to flow naturally, which helps to relax, be open to new angles, get inspired and come up with fresh ideas so that you can create something that you’ll be happy about.
“Crush your goals without crashing your well-being.
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Staying in the hustle will result in you feeling so overwhelmed, stressed and tired, that you start making mistakes, missing deadlines, experience brain fog. For some, of you it looks like lashing out on the weekends because you need to blow off steam, therefore adding to the pile by going overboard and needing a couple of days to recover, which in turn, creates more delays, frustrations, and stresses.
I’m a big believer in building in a safety net through consistent, daily practice, rather than treating symptoms. Live smarter, not harder. You see, you know this hustling hard isn’t good for you so you can create a plan to make sure you don’t fall into that trap. And you can even build in a contingency plan for when - the universe forbid, you DO get trapped in the hustle. This means you think ahead and plan for setbacks that could potentially throw you off track and you think of ways you’ll handle them so that you know which direction to take in order to pull yourself out fast.
Get my free training and dive into the 5 habits to adopt into your daily routine that will help you live smarter, not harder, AND, avoid burning out in the long run.
Now I would love to hear from you!
Which one of the 10 reasons resonated with you the most and how will you overcome it?